tore.
             He left this job in April 1832 for service in the Black Hawk War and was immediately elected captain by his company. When his term ended in May, he reenlisted for twenty more days in the service of Captain Elijah Iles and then in June, he signed on for thirty more days in Captain Jacob M. Earle's company. This extended service was not a result of military need but rather that Lincoln had no other work.
             He drifted back to New Salem and toyed with the ideas of learning blacksmithing or law, but thought he would not succeed in law without a better education.
             Shortly after his return from the war he sought election to the legislature. He lost the election though he carried his own precinct, New Salem, 277 to 7.
             Surviving on odd jobs, he next stumbled into the purchase of a store with William Berry. Compl
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